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Capitol Hill today, a number of Senate Republicans are demoralized
and pessimistic after the failure of their latest attempt to force
the Democratic Senate leadership to speed up the confirmation of
President Bush's judicial nominees.
For more than
a week, Republicans held up consideration of a foreign-aid appropriations
bill, trying to pressure Majority Leader Tom Daschle to abandon
the Democrats' go-slow policy on judges. Daschle did not give in.
Yesterday, with no success in sight, the GOP gave up. "The
Republican caucus pretty much collapsed," says a senior aide.
But that wasn't
the worst of it. Far more demoralizing was the hard line Daschle
took with Bush Tuesday in a face-to-face White House meeting. The
president was consulting with congressional leaders on a variety
of topics, most of them related to terrorism, when he raised the
issue of judges. The fact that Bush brought up the question at all
is a measure of how important the issue is to the White House. By
all accounts, Daschle stonewalled.
"He said
Democrats don't need appropriations bills and don't need judges
as much as the White House does," says a GOP staffer —
and that was that. After the meeting, Daschle told reporters he
told the president the Republicans' appropriations strategy simply
would not work. "There is no connection [between the appropriations
bills and judges]," he said. "I told that again to the
president this morning....There isn't any leverage on appropriations
bills."
So far, the
Senate has confirmed 12 of Bush's judicial nominees. Now, after
Daschle's statements, Republicans believe their best hope is to
win about 20 confirmations by the end of the year. There remain
about 110 vacancies on the federal bench, a significantly higher
number than existed during the Clinton administration when Democrats
accused Republicans of creating a "vacancy crisis."
If they ever
had any hope that appeals to Democrats might succeed, Republicans
on Capitol Hill and in the White House now realize that there simply
is no bipartisanship when it comes to the issue of the federal courts
and the president's responsibility to choose judges. There was no
bipartisanship when Bush first arrived in Washington and tried to
make friends with congressional leaders of both parties. And there
is no bipartisanship in the post-September 11 world in which Republicans
and Democrats are working together more closely on a variety of
other issues.
Indeed, some
key Democratic constituencies are arguing that it is more important
now than ever before not to compromise on judges, no matter
what temporary spirit of comity might prevail in Congress. One example
of the depth of liberal feeling is contained in a report, "President
Bush, the Senate and the Federal Judiciary: Unprecedented Situation
Calls for Unprecedented Solution," issued October 17 by the
left-wing advocacy group People for the American Way. The report
says that in his "response to the aftermath of the September
11 terrorist attacks," Bush must decide whether he will "provoke
intense partisan conflict" by "pushing for votes on predominantly
right-wing ideologues" to the federal judiciary.
"Right-wing
advocates inside and outside of government are urging President
Bush to use the bipartisan support he has been given in the wake
of the terrorist attacks to complete the campaign for ideological
dominance over the entire federal judiciary," the report continues.
"Given how much is at stake, senators must...resist pressure
from right-wing administration or Senate leaders to speed confirmation
of nominees without serious consideration, and refuse to allow the
critically important circuit courts of appeal from becoming dominated
by right-wing ideologues."
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